Mortgage funding 'must be addressed by government'

Date:Monday 24th May 2010
Author: Susanna Kavka

The new coalition government in the UK must look into the issue of mortgage funding, according to the Council of Mortgage Lending (CML).

Director general of the organisation Michael Coogan made his comments following the publication of its gross mortgage lending data for April, which showed a decline of 12 per cent compared to March.

He suggested it is still unclear how the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition will remedy the funding gap that is set to appear in the mortgage market over the next few years.

"Unless funding issues are addressed, any recovery in lending may well be curtailed as the repayment date on the support schemes gets closer," explained Mr Coogan.

In his view, the government must "grasp this nettle".

The CML recently revealed there were 45,000 loans for house purchases agreed in March, which is 25 per cent more than there were in the previous month, while first-time buyer numbers increased by 27 per cent during that time.